Specify the Enigma!
by ACTE
Summary: He faked his death to protect those he loved. Now that he's out in the open, what can a martial artist do? After all, fists can't stop bullets...yet. DC and Ranma cross. sister story to Detective: Manipulation!


AN: Ok everyone! Probably the first RanmaXDetective Conan crossover ever to be put in the Detective Conan Section! This chapter will be a repeat of the "meiji-centric" scenes from Detective: Manipulation! Along with some new scenes… so bear with me. And please, read Detective: Manipulation if you are confused about anything…. "Meiji" survived being given the Apotoxin over 3 years ago… This fic is occurring at Winter 1995, aka about the time of chapter 580 (manga) or so. This means that it is about 3 years after the end of Ranma ½. I am guessing the grade and class that Conan and Ai are in… so please help…

I do not own Ranma ½, Detective Conan, Or anything else that is mentioned in the fic… but the plot is mine. And the song.

---------(Specify which Enigma! Chapter 1: Introductions)--------

"Ohayo class! Today we have a new student joining us, and he's just come back from China, so let's give Eniguma Meiji a big "Ni-hao""

My name… is currently Meiji Eniguma.

"NI-HAO Eniguma-san!"

Why do I say "currently"?

"Good job class! Now, Meiji, pick an open seat and sit down so we can start class, please"

Its because my name is really Ranma Saotome.

"Hai Hondo-sensei"

Yeah, big shock. Me, the aquatranssexual, NWC member, god-slayer, and martial artist. And now one more thing to add on that list: the guy that is retaking third grade. Class 3-B.

Oh… don't know that part of the story yet… well… I got some time. I'll tell you it as the teacher's teaching.

After all, I've learned all of this before…

I hope.

------(Some time ago, night of the "Japan The Ripper" murder)-----

A filthy, bleeding, and beaten kid staggers out of an alley, only to run into a uniformed police…girl?

"Watch where you're going!" the policewoman yelled out… only to stop and look at the bruised boy. He couldn't be older than 8. He needed help, and soon. Gripping her hand onto his arm, she started to think…

Officer Yumi Miyamoto was not having a good day. An officer of Division One of the Tokyo Metropolitan area police, life in the Beika prefecture no longer seemed as good as it once was when certain things happen. Certain things like the almost certain failure of her very precious "pet project", the getting together of her friends, Officers Wataru Takagi and Miwako Sato. Why did those two have to be so thick! And why did they have to be so lovable?

Not only was her pet project suffering from the very subjects that it involved, the rest of the department seemed dead set on breaking the two up! And what's with Mr. "Elite-team" Shiratori questioning her motives? Takagi and Sato BELONGED together! Takagi a more open version of … Jinpei Matsuda, the only other man that managed to touch Miwako's heart. WHY COULDN'T THE REST OF THE DEPARTMENT SEE THAT THE DUO BELONGED TOGETHER? Pff… Men. Stupid idiots, all of them. So what if Sato was the only female inspector in their division?

To make matters worse her boss was threatening to dock her pay by 10 if she did not go on double NIGHT patrols because of her "excessive partying"! ARGH! She just wanted to have a little fun on the job, no harm was done or meant to be done! And then she runs into THIS kid! What a drag! … wait…

As she stood consumed by her thoughts and mental rant, the boy broke out of her grasp and tried to run away.

'That boy is STRONG and FAST!' thought Yumi as tried to catch up.

Yet as she pursued after him, she realized that he wasn't that bright. She could easily manipulate him to go where she wanted him to go!

After much pointless following and experimenting how she could manipulate him, she begun to tire out. Luckily, an idea worked its way into her head. She chased him so that he would enter a cul-de-sac of sorts, and just stopped and waited for the inevitable to happen.

And it did. The outsmarted boy ran into her for the SECOND time of the day as he completed a lap around a walled off warehouse. This time, Yumi was ready. She quickly handcuffed the child to herself and dragged him back to the patrol car and proceeded to take him to the station.

'What kind of boy is this?' were Yumi's thoughts. She couldn't believe how fast he could run, and while injured! Could he be… from Nermia? Nah, not possible! That was at least 10 kilometers from Beika! And how did he get so bruised and battered? The more she thought, the more questions popped up.

So engrossed in her own thoughts and task, she was oblivious to the glowing aura that manifested around that child.

--------(back to present day)--------

Ah yes… that was when I first met my new "Nee-san", she's currently trying to adopt me because of the stupid "sob story" I made up about my parents dying on the way back to Japan from China… but I don't mind. She's one of the best "Nee-san"'s a guy could ask for.

RING

Ah… the bell. Well, I'll tell you the rest of the story soon…

"Alright class, now before we go to lunch, I have to remind you about the inter-class project we are doing in a week, you will find out who's your partner from class 3-A soon!"

And like that, all of the students rushed off to lunch. Including me.

Ah lunch… Hm? Ah… Looks like Yumi-nee-san snuck some Hi-Milk into my bento… Remind me to thank her later. After all, it IS good chocolate. And the chocolate that gave me my name. Hm? You don't know the story… well….

--------(Flashback (in Yumi's patrol car))--------

Something was wrong. Even a rookie officer could tell you that, and Yumi was NOT a rookie. Something really bad happened. Her police radio was flooded with incoming messages, some cutting each other off, yet others overlapping and drowning each other out. Some were in a gajin language, some in frantic Japanese. It was big; whatever happened.

Soon it just became too much, the noise annoyed her to the point of no return. Against her better judgment, she turned off her radio. From experience she knew that it was impossible for Base to contact her in such a situation, so she could always blame the static and background noise. She could finally relax and maybe even eat that special chocolate that she stashed away for moments like these… chocolate…

"Why'd ya turn off da radio?"

Quickly snapping out of her fantasy, she realized that the kid was still in her front seat. Just a kid. Nothing too bad… wait. He was supposed to be in the back seat!

"HOW DID YOU GET HERE?" she screamed in surprise.

"Ya know, it's really easy to get into da front seat, especially after ya took off my handcuffs for me and walked away." The kid just smirked holding out his unchained hands.

"Oh… Yeah… that's right." Looking a bit embarrassed, the female officer didn't know what to say at the moment. She didn't realize that she was so scatterbrained lately. Maybe Megure had a reason to threaten her to shape up…

"Hey, what kind of chocolate is this?" exclaimed the child, his steel blue eyes adopting a strange glint as he held on to a bar of chocolate.

"Huh, what? HEY, GIVE ME THAT!" was Yumi's only answer. That candy bar must not be her special one… or ELSE!

Reluctantly, the young child handed over the chocolate bar. Luckily, the wrapper was red, not gold and silver. She realized that it was a HI-MILK bar she bought not long ago.

"So… what is it?" the young boy inquired.

"That's HI-MILK, a milk chocolate in which they add extra milk." Answered Yumi, adopting a calmer expression. "Here, you can eat it if you want to."

"Really? Cool! Thanks!" the now happy kid almost shouted, as he opened the wrapper and proceeded to wolf down the candy bar.

Struck by the cute actions of the boy, Yumi could only smile. He really wasn't as bad as she thought! Oops… looks like she needed to pay attention to the road more: the light ahead of her just turned red.

Coasting to a stop, Yumi looked at the boy, only to realize that he stopped eating.

"Hey, what's up?" The young woman asked, puzzled by the sudden stop in eating.

The boy looked up and into her eyes, giving her an electric jolt. Then to her amazement, he broke off a sizable piece of the chocolate and offered it to her.

"Here, try some!" the child said happily.

Yumi thanked the boy and accepted the chocolate; after all, chocolate would be nice at a time like this.

"Thanks for the chocolate Police-san" said the young boy.

"No problem" replied Yumi as she once again started to cruise down the street, toward the police station.

Struck by the realization that she did not even know his name, she decided to find out.

"Hey, gaki, what's your name?"

An uncertain expression soon replaced "Um… um… um.."

Mistaking the boy to have amnesia, she said "don't worry if you don't remember your name… Many people tend to forget sometimes. But if you still can't remember, there are doctors who can help you. They are especially trained to help people who can't remember things. And there are many… oops! Looks like the light's about to go green! "

With the light in front of her now green Yumi concentrated on the road, totally missing the wild search the boy was leading in the car. Rapidly grabbing random things then discarding them, none of the action caught Yumi's attention. This was probably because it had just started to rain during the previous conversation, and the young Miyamoto must realized it.

"I got a name… you can call me…" at this, the boy finally fixated on a certain object. "You can call me … Meiji"

Oblivious to the frantic search for a name "Meiji" just had, Yumi's attention was held on tightly by the now semi-frozen rain falling to the ground, courtesy of the freezing temperatures outside.

Once she registered the now-dubbed "Meiji"'s reply, she realized that she should reply with her own name, she did.

"Alright Meiji. You can call me Miyamoto Yumi-Neesan" replied the road-focused officer.

Nothing else was said, or heard, other than the occasional "snap" of chocolate.

------(Back to present day)-----

Ah… the day my fortunes were changed… I remember it well. It's time for me to get back to class, so I'll tell you the rest of the story on the way there.

-----(Back to the patrol car)-----

Time went by, and soon Officer Yumi was parking her car in the police station's parking lot.

"Alright Meiji, we're here… I'm going to bring you to the medical ward before I hand in my report for my patrol ok?" the young lady said with a small smile.

Meiji just looked at her and replied "ok…" as he got out of the car.

Seeing that Meiji was already outside, Yumi quickly stepped out of the car and locked the doors. As she escorted Meiji to the medical ward, his hand somehow found hers. It was a cute sight, a young woman running with a child in tow, both getting wet from the rain. If only Yumi wasn't in uniform and Meiji covered with wounds.

As the two drenched people approached the entrance of the station, a candy wrapper drifted in the wind.

On it were the words:

_Meiji _

HI-MILK chocolate bar

------(back to present day)------

"Alright class, today we will be learning about Plate Tectonics. Plates are big pieces of land floating on a liquid mantle. Think of it as a really big naruto floating on your miso ramen."

Hmm… they've updated the curriculum. Huh? Oh! Sorry. Back to the story.

And now you know why I was named Meiji.

When she got to the police station, she quickly dropped me off at the infirmary and went in to report to her boss.

That's when one of the nurses realized that I was supposed to be dead. Yup. Dead. Why?

The Apotoxin totally screwed up my Ki and body. Hm… don't know what's ki? It's life energy. And I am good at using it.

Hm… that explanation is a bit too deep for now. I guess I have to tell you the rest of the story first.

I was being loaded onto an ambulance when…

-------(Ambulance)---------

Turning her car around, she drove back to the police station, mind no longer on the murder, but back onto the boy she picked up earlier… Her little Enigma… Meiji.

As she pulled into the police station, she saw Meiji being loaded up into an ambulance. She quickly got out and ran over to the medic that was still sliding the gurney into the vehicle.

"Hey! What's wrong with the kid? Meiji was fine when I brought him here!" Yumi cried out, filled with concern.

"Miss? You know this… Meiji?" The medic asked.

With genuine emotion shining in her eyes, Yumi began to explain. "Yeah! I was the one who brought him in, sure he was beaten up but…"

"Yes, his wounds are no more than just a nuisance. But he is also suffering from Rickets, a vitamin D deficiency; a Vitamin K deficiency; and a phosphorus deficiency also. This could mean that he was indoors and/or had a bad diet for quite a while… we probably have to put him on intravenous nutrition" said the medic. " But luckily, he's still growing and the defiencencies are not that serious, but he has to have a good diet for a while after he's released from the hospital. He's a ward of the state isn't he?"

"Yes…" answered Officer Miyamoto.

"Then he needs a good foster home…" sadly replied the medic.

"No. I'll take him in for a while." Was Yumi's firm statement. "He'll be my little Meiji-outoto."

"Alright… Do you know his last name?" was the medic's one last question.

"No…" Suddenly, a thought struck Yumi, so she quickly added, "But put down Eniguma for now…"

With a curt nod, the medic signaled to the ambulance driver to get ready to go.

As she watched the ambulance drive away, she had only one last comment.

"Heh… For now, you really are… My little Enigma"

--------(back to Meiji)------

Yup. That was the day I got my last name. Fitting eh? Eniguma… the former Enigma of Nermia, and now the Enigma of Bieka.

Everything was fine and dandy at the hospital. I had intravenous nutrition for a while, but I got better.

I remember Yumi-nee-san coming back from the hotel in which the J-Ripper Murder was committed, her body all tense, her eyes conveying her sleeplessness. But lo and behold, she brought me a radio to listen to if I ever got bored.

I remember laying there and contemplating my life… and how it got so bad.

.oO--------(SUPER BIG FLASHBACKS WITH FLASHBACKS INSIDE OF IT)-------Oo.

Meiji… was not having fun. He was in a hospital bed, with an IV stuck into his veins.

He HATED hospitals. Being in one meant something bad happened to you or someone you knew. Being in the hospital bed meant that you were weakened at that moment.

Meiji HATED being weak. It reminded him of the Cat-fist.

Oh… yeah… did I mention Meiji… is Ranma?

Hmm… No? Then let's turn back time…

----(Nermia-Beika prefecture border, over 3 years ago)----

"Hmmm… is this the kid?" said dark figure one.

"Ja… Pisco's research says that she might be… a problem in the future." Female… but with a grating voice. Who was it?

"I thought the kid was supposed to be a boy! I don't know how this girl cross-dresses with a figure like that! Hmm… her stature and figure are so much like mine… yes… a new disguise…" soft, soothing voice. Female. "But if we kill her now… the image in my head may be ruined…" Ranma could nearly HEAR the pout in that woman's voice…

"Hehehehehe… then hold off on the finishing shot, let's use her as a test subject…" Dark figure one. "She's going to die anyway… she has lost too much blood…"

"Yes… this will be a perfect opportunity…" smooth voice, male, reeks of cigarettes. "let's see what the little scarlet woman has made…"

"You trust HER work so much eh?" The female with the soothing voice again… "So I've truly lost to Sherry…"

"Stop." Dark figure one. "We are in a too open space. Sound carries easily… for safety, no names."

Heh… so… they wanted to kill him now eh? Too bad… Ranma knew what happened. These men… and women… had guns. Guns and martial artists don't mix. He didn't notice until it was too late. By that time, his right arm had been disabled, and both his legs were impaired. Then the sadists shot his body… Luckily, he was able to secretly "deflect" the bullets enough to cause bleeding, but miss the intended, and very vital, targets.

He knew why he was being referred to as a girl… as he was in his girl form. Suddenly, he felt the two men hoist him up, and felt long, slender, feminine fingers gently force his jaw open…

"-Sweet dreams, Red Princess-" With those final words in English, the female with the soothing voice placed a pill into Ranma's mouth.

Nothing happened.

Then he felt his Ki go haywire.

His Ki pathways began scrambling, reversing his years of hard training. He could feel his own Ki turn against himself… He was going to die… and he knew it… Wait… He could still manipulate the Ki!

As the world went black around him, Ranma's consciousness reverted into his Ki core and began making the haywire Ki cancel each other out.

To the world, Ranma was dead. No heartbeat. No breathing. But the truth was, he was in suspended animation. He saved his own life.

And his ears were still working.

The words and sounds soon told him what was happening…

"What do we do with the kid now?" dark figure number one.

"If we leave him here, they might trace the chemicals from the APTX4689 back to the pharmaceutical company we were using as a front… hmm…" The smoker, he seems to be the leader. "Ah yes… my little scarlet woman once told me the secret to the drug's quickness is that it's water soluble"

"So… if we dump him into the river the APTX traces will be washed out of him?" Grating female. "Barbados! Transport us to the nearest body of water!"

He felt himself (well.. herself) being loaded onto a car… though gently as the "Soothing female" wanted the body to be in perfect shape the last time she saw it… so that her "Idea" would not be ruined.

They finally arrived at the body of water. It seems that the "Soothing female" was taking pictures.

"Meh… do you want us to just rip off her clothes for you to see everything?" said dark figure number one.

"MEN! Do you not realize that you said that in front of a woman? Hmmph. I do not wish to know anymore… as now my imagination can fly. You may dump her now." Soothing female sounded so much like Akane just then...

'Akane… I'm sorry I will never be able to see you again…'

Two pairs of hands hoisted Ranma's girl form up and over the railing and into the water.

His last thought was:

'And some say I had the perfect life…'

-----(End flashback)----

Ranma never forgot that day… and because of it, he was like this. Sadly, he didn't change his will…

Yes, he had a will. He knew that the Nermian chaos would have killed a lesser man, and always grew. Soon… he might have not survived it.

What he wrote in his will was peculiar…

He gave any possession to whom he got it from, and some other materials to be taken care of by Happosai. Any money was to be given to the Tendo family as a "Thank you".

Money… should not be an issue. What he now had was enough for the Tendo's to live on for at least a month WITH the Saotome's huge costs. A small reprise in a sea of disappointment.

Some would ask why Happosai was chosen to have the sensitive material. Ranma's logic was not questionable when you looked at it, after all, who stole Amazon treasures so long ago… and who still had it in his possession?

But most others would ask why does he play this game? Why did he make everyone think he was dead?

He knew that question would be the question everyone asked if they knew he was Ranma.

And so he remembered the day he decided… that Ranma Saotome was dead.

-----(Back… to the Flash-ture!)----

He woke up on the rocky shore of a abandoned factory's (illegal) waste disposal area. Luckily, no bodily harm came out of his unconscious trip down the river and onto the rocks. Noting that his body was still female, he begun to look for something to help him to turn back to his rightful form.

With his Ki flows still a bit erratic, he had to find a shelter…

Looking at the decrepit factory, Ranma saw something promising. Well… he saw through something.

He saw a furnace through a window of the factory, so he quickly took one of the rocks on the shore and threw it at the window. Part of the window shattered, but not all. The martial artist persisted and threw more stones to widen the hole. Seeing his chance, he started to climb into the window, only to see all the glass shards he caused…

Aha! Another idea! Ranma saw some of the larger stones began piling them up against the wall to make a rock "staircase" and then took off his waterlogged shirt.

He climbed onto the "staircase" and used his shirt to clear off the window sill. He then got onto the windowsill and then climbed in.

To his surprise, it seemed that Karma wanted to give him a break. Cardboard boxes and paper, perfect for burning were to his left, along with wooden pallets that could be burned once he broke them to pieces. To his front, metal kettles, pots, and pans, no worse for wear. Behind the metal cookware, there was a glass blowing station.

It seemed this factory made cookware, metal, ceramic, and glass. He could change forms whenever he wanted.

Noticing the office, he went into it and was once again surprised. Instant Ramen, instant tea, and instant cereal awaited him. He had food.

The electricity was cut off, but an emergency hand-cranked generator was found, along with a battery. He could live here… for a while. The chairs would not be easy to sleep in… but he could survive.

Running back to the shore for some water to boil, he began to prepare for his stay. And ponder on what he shall do.

-------------(some time later, as night fell and the water boiled, still in flashback)----------

Ranma stared into the flame that was boiling his water. He tried pouring the water on himself as it heated, but he wouldn't change back. Makes sense that the poison would do this… Magic never liked science after all.

Looking apprehensively at the now-bubbling pot of water, the aqua-transsexual steeled himself for the pain pouring boiling hot water would cause.

Ironically, it didn't hurt. As it the water hit him, he felt himself shift and the water was repelled an instant after it hit him.

It seemed that the water magnet part of his curse just got a bit… twisted. Not only that, it was harder to change back…

And why did he seem… so small?

To his amazement, he found that he was small… too small. He had reverted back to the time before the Neko-Ken! His scars that reminded him of that horrible day were gone…

He realized that this toxin had screwed with the magic and martial arts techniques that he had…

In a rare moment of insight, Ranma realized that if he ever went back to Nermia, the rest of the Nermians would be in trouble. Guns trumped martial arts nine times out of ten, and this new poison was water soluble… that meant that it could be slipped into almost anything! Not to mention what it did to the curse… who knows the extent of damage it could cause.

Then he remembered how close he came to dieing, how the poison turned his ki against himself… he figured that he would be condemning the rest of the NWC to death or worse if he went back…

It wasn't worth it… the few days he would go back and live his life again would be the few days those stupid hit-men were going to prepare a massacre of Nermia. He was prepared to give up his life for the ones he held dear…

He knew that from that day on, he would be a living ghost.

And he prepared to survive.

After all, what else can a man do once he was dead?

-------(back to the hospital)------

Ranma, lying on the bed, looked at the fluid dripping into his arm from the IV. He counted each drop, pretending that each drop symbolized one day since that day.

He wasn't even half way there, so it felt. It had been so long, nothing was the same anymore.

His head devoid of the trademark pigtail (as it caused… a few incidents) Ranma's new hairstyle was simple. Short cropped hair akin to Akane's, but a little more masculine, was the most appropriate way to describe the black locks of hair.

Ranma was glad that he kept up his martial arts. His ki based attacks were now "in commission", even though they were barely considered "powerful". The only major technique that was not reduced to a pitiful shadow of itself was the Soul of Ice, which ironically became ever stronger.

Why? The screwed up curse, of course! He learned that he truly was a water "magnet". He could now attract and repel water sort of at will, and it seemed that anything based on an allotrope of water (like the shark fist) became strengthened.

That also meant that the curse was "stronger". To activate it, Ranma needed to be hit with freezing water. To turn back to himself, boiling water was what was needed. Luckily, he could repel the water before too much damage was done, but this did leave some interesting situations at hand…

One of the major reasons was that his "girl form" was now his "teenage form". Whereas his male side became younger by quite a few years, his female form changed to that of a small thirteen year old girl… yet the female form was still one and a half times as large as his male!

Luckily, Ranma found that he could turn the freezing water into ice before it hit him and turned him into a girl… but that was tiresome as his ki pathways still were not fully healed and redeveloped yet.

Catching the sound of footsteps with his acute hearing, the martial artist began to lay at ease, and put his "Meiji" disguise on again.

As he started to feign sleep, his eyes caught something on his wrist-band name-tag…

Eniguma, Meiji.

Hmm… strange…

Since when did he have a last name?

.oO-------(END PART ONE OF SUPER BIG FLASHBACK)------Oo.

"Alright class… it's time to go home."

Hmm.. end of the day already? Well… I guess I'll have to tell you the rest of the story as we walk back to my Nee-san's apartment…

Oh well.

Anyway, that was the first time I saw the last name Miyamoto picked out for me. At first, I didn't like it… but soon I became accustomed to it. I really could

/"Attention everyone! We, the Shonen Tantei, want to remind everyone that if you ever have a case you need someone to solve Come to us!"\

Shonen tantei? Detective boys? Hm… I'll have to look into it later.

Well, back to the story….

.oO22222222222(Part 2 of the big flashback)2222222222222Oo.

Hmmm… its been so long since the doctor's visit. It seems like he had vitamin deficiencies… feh. Beggars can't be choosers. He took whatever he was allowed to take. Ever since "Ranma Saotome" disappeared, he was once again living like he did on the trip. Harsh nights followed by Harsher days. He was lucky to find shelter in the old Koni cookware factory. The inner rooms did not get too cold during the winter, and some old coats and emergency blankets were left behind.

As Ranma lay there, he was reminded of his new "Nee-chan", it seemed that she knew how boring it was in hospitals, so she left a portable radio in his room for him. It was currently off because he didn't want to listen to the commercials of "Lip enlarger EXTREME" and "Face thinner Version 4.5!"(1). Deciding that he was officially bored enough to listen to the commercials of such rubbish items, he turned it back on.

"/Konnichiwa Nippon! (good afternoon Japan!) It is currently 3:07 and we are two songs into our "Commercial-free" hour! You have just heard "Bloody Venus" by Lex, their lead singer died a while ago, but it still remains popular. Two-Mix's new song is coming up soon, it was written in dedication to the Shonen Tentai! (detective boys). But now, a song from Sil, a budding artist. Here's "Cloud"!\"

'Hm?' thought Ranma 'Cloud… maybe I should of named my self that… I was like a cloud, a fluffy white cloud that was blown by the winds. Even though I was capable of creating great thunderbolts and winds myself, I was powerless against the winds that my father, the Tendos, the Amazons, and the rest of the NWC controlled. I seemed so strong to survive the quadruple onslaught, but in the end, I was the weakest… I was the one being blown around.'

_One white cloud, in my mind,  
__One lonely dream-made cloud  
__Fills my thoughts as I look at the sky  
__While with my self I confide._

As he listened to the music, his mind drifted back to a time that he would always remember. A few weeks after the Jensudo incident…

….(mini-flashback).…

This was the third time that week he found himself laying on the roof, staring up at the stars, and asking questions he thought had been answered over and over again.

_Fly away, White cloud, Fly away  
__To where can you Fly?  
__Fly to the truth admits a sky of lies  
__Yet can the truth ever be found? _

'Where was the truth?' He asked himself as he stared at Polaris (the north star), he couldn't understand what he was feeling. Was it regret? Was it determination? Why did he feel so… strange inside? When he looked at Akane, he no longer felt that she was a friend, distant or… close, he saw her as a responsibility. After he saved her so many times, he had become used to being the one responsible for her, and his attraction to her decreased. Trapped… in-between Akane's budding affection toward him, and his own increasing feeling of responsibility for her… But he knew, the more he waited the worse it would become. To where could he go?

_All my emotions are kept within,  
__Like the raindrops inside a cloud  
__Where does one stop, Where does the other begin?  
__Are we separate or one? _

Something definitely changed within. He no longer was able to deny that he had changed. He could no longer acquiesce to much more. The feeling of responsibility within him… It felt so familiar now. It WAS him. It became him. It was a poison that he created for himself…

_Fly away, White cloud, Fly away  
__To where can you Fly?  
__Fly to the truth admits a sky of lies  
__Yet can the truth ever be found? _

He couldn't do this anymore… but he had to. He may never again find the answers to the question he asked, but he knew there was no place left for him to go. Everyone pushed and pulled on him, he was lost like a leaf in a gale…

_I lay down on a hill of grass,  
__With a Crystal tear in my eye.  
__Thinking about my mess of a life,  
__I start to converse with myself. _

From that day on, he promised himself that the person he would fall in love with must be not a hurricane, be not a gale, be not a gust, yet he also did not want a stationary cloud, a flimsy leaf, nor a pretty feather. He needed a zephyr, someone that would push, yet only gently. He needed someone that did not try to "guide" him or "push" him in the "right direction". He needed a dutiful and unwavering opposition, telling its own opinion while not forcing him to change his. A zephyr is every cloud's dream…

_Fly away, White cloud, Fly away  
__To where can you Fly?  
__Fly to the truth admits a sky of lies  
__Yet can the truth ever be found? _

'huh?' he thought as he looked to the east, the sun… it was beginning to rise. The clouds were no longer white or gray, but vivid violets, brilliant blues, rosy reds, and outstanding oranges. The clouds showed their true colors. They looked so much alike during day and night, but at dawn and dusk they could truly be themselves.

The dawn of Ranma Saotome has truly past… is it time for the dusk?

With that thought, the most dangerous, yet kindest, member of the Nermia Wrecking Crew roof-hopped to somewhere he never been before.

He heard stories of it, good and bad. He also knew it was the last place people would look for him in.

_When you do reach the ground,  
__I will be waiting to see the truth you found,  
__Maybe then we will see where we begin  
__Maybe then we will both have friends…_

But hey, it was the dawn of a new day, and he could be someone other than Mr. Martial Arts, at least he hoped.

With light steps, jumps, and landings, Ranma Saotome made his way to Beika Public Library; the only library near Nermia that opened at 6:00 in the morning.

…(end mini flashback)…

_And maybe then…  
__We can start all over…  
__Again…_

Such a bitter sweet song… it brought much nostalgia to Meiji. His past life… but he now had a new life, and he would have to see what he could do.

.oO2222222(End Part 2 of Super Big Flashback.)222222Oo.

That was my decision, and I do not regret it. Anyway, see you tomorrow. I've got to go.

(end Meiji POV)

And with that, the young shrunken martial artist leapt up onto the banister for the stairway and ran up it… only to fall down no more than ten steps later.

"CHIKUSO! I HATE THIS STUPID WEAK CHILD'S BODY!" was all he could yell as he once again hopped up onto the railing and did "Balance practice"

His cries of dismay would be like clockwork for the next half an hour…

'I knew he was no good' thought a random passer by.

Wait… hey! Random passer by, you aren't supposed to be in this scene!

'Gomen'

AND YOU SOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HEAR ME!

'… Gomen, gomen nasai'

Hmm… seems that the random passer by wish Shinji Ikari… wait… he hasn't even been conceived yet!

--------------------

Ending AN: this was just a compilation of all the Meiji scenes up until now… with some minor edits and some extra Meiji POV narration… See you next file!

NEXT StE HINT: Umi-Sen-Ken (sea of thousand fists!)


End file.
